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Rocky
I first met Rocky in the faraway year of 1985, I was 5 years old and I was a really shy and introverted child who had one real friend, Sara who I met in Kindergarten, but I had trouble making friends generally, so I was in my back yard playing on my own and I happened to see a friendly little creature looking at me, though I was one of those kids with almost boundless energy I was also kind of timid so I guess the little raccoon felt safe with us inching closer to each other, I remember thinking he was the cutest little thing I had ever seen and after a minute we were sitting next to each other and he of course wanted food, so I got him some bread, which is a no no but I didn’t know that then, I was surprised by how he was still there when I returned, he of course didn't care that raccoons weren't supposed to eat bread and proceeded to eat it up, I spent around an hour playing with him, he was around two years old so he was still somewhat young in raccoon years, we had a wicked awesome time and eventually he wandered off and I thought I would probably never see him again, So the next day I admit I was outside hoping that the little guy would show up again and sure enough he did, I already had some food ready and we again spent time playing together, yes raccoons are playful, so I decided to name him Rocky, of course after the song Rocky Raccoon, Rocky George to be specific because why not right? So Rocky visited more and more frequently until he eventually started sleeping over, I made a nice little bed for him in the closet and he seemed to really like it, Rocky’s favorite food was grapes, second was nuts of any description and third was a mix between pizza and Doritos but he wasn’t supposed to eat either of those, Rocky would sit on the couch with me and Sara and watch movies, he liked it because there was popcorn, he would follow me around the house and even wait for me to get home from school, I know some people will think he only loved the food but I think he loved the attention just as much, Rocky made me more outgoing and made my life seem a lot more fun, I loved spending time with him, Sara loved him too, and even Mom loved him, though she got mad when he chewed things and stole food, she loved him anyway, I remember I would treat him a little like my son, he would put his arms up to let me know he wanted to be picked up, he would sit at the fridge looking sad when he wanted food, which was a lot by the way, he would get dirty and I would give him a bath, he would wake up before me and come in and wake me up to play or for food, mostly for food, I remember once Mom asked “Becky why does Rocky smell like lavender?” and my reply was of course “I used lavender shampoo on him”, Mom at first seemed annoyed but then conceded it was kind of funny and cute, so Rocky became a regular fixture of our household, me, Mom and my Sister all loved him, so did everyone else who knew him, I even tried taking him to school once, Mom informed me she would see me in an hour to pick him up once the school had called to complain, he only lasted abut 20 minutes because despite being very well behaved, Rocky was getting far more attention and interest than the teacher so he was very distracting to the learning progress, though Ms. Mills did admit she liked him too in spite of his disruption, I even celebrated his birthday, we didn’t know how old he was but I celebrated his birthdays on the anniversary of the day I found him, that date is October 14th, so I thought I would write this story in Rocky’s honor and memory, we ended up being almost inseparable and spent hours and hours together, when me and Sara made a fort out of sheets and blankets Rocky was always there, when we walked the 2 houses down to each others place he was always with us, when I walked into town he was with me, and everyone loved him and wanted to see him, this ended up making me more social and improved my ability to make friends, I admit I kind of thought of Rocky as my child in some ways, Rocky lived with me and my family for almost 5 years, I spent close to everyday of that 5 years playing with and caring for him, I invented games for us, he invested games for us, he loved our family and we loved him, I remember the last time I saw him, the morning of Saturday the 4th of August 1990, I felt really guilty because we were off the the fair and he couldn't come, he was sleeping when I left so I didn’t really get to say Goodbye or that I loved him, something I always did, I had no way of knowing it would be the last time I would see him, or when I tucked him into bed the night before would be the last time he would see me, I had left him lots of food for that day and the next one until I had planned to see him the next afternoon, as life would have it I never actually seen him again, though my family did and though I’m sure he enjoyed their attention I think it was mine he enjoyed the most, I found out he stayed for a few more weeks but without me around he didn’t feel the same, I can’t blame him, so he wandered off one morning, I like to think Rocky wandered off and decided to find a nice girlfriend and start his own family, and that somewhere in the Readfield, Maine area there are Rocky’s Great Grandchildren running around somewhere, perhaps even sharing stories of Rocky and I and our adventures together, that may be wishful thinking but the memories of Rocky and me together have always made me smile over the years, I will never forget him and I would like to think as big a difference as he made in my life, hopefully I made a difference in his.